BERLIN (Reuters) - Images of French ghettos in flames are causing
increasing discomfort across Europe and have raised fears the violence
could spread across borders.

London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Brussels and other
cities with large immigrant populations are on the lookout for any
signs of copycats of the urban violence that has engulfed Paris and
other French cities, destroying cars, shops and schools.

Smoke rises from the burnt out buildings of a commercial centre in
Evreux, 96Km (60 miles) west of Paris early November 6, 2005. (REUTERS/Franck
Prevel)
So far there have been only isolated reports of wanton violence beyond
France's borders -- five cars set on fire in Berlin on Sunday night
and six in the western German city of Bremen. In Brussels, five cars
were also set alight on Sunday.

Leaders in Britain, Germany and elsewhere point to unique
circumstances in France that make it less likely that they will face
similar rioting. But there are nevertheless potential powder kegs
in countries with large foreign populations.

"Everybody's concerned at what is happening,"
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday. "I send every
support to the French government and to the French people in dealing
with the situation. You should never be complacent about these things,
although I think our situation is in some ways different."

The Paris violence was sparked by frustration among
ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment and harsh treatment by
police. Many of the rioters are French-born citizens of Arab or African
origin. Many feel trapped in the drab suburbs, built in the 1960s
and 1970s to house waves of immigrant workers.

"The conditions in France are different from what
we have here," said Wolfgang Schaeuble, designated interior minister
in the new German government.

"We don't have the giant apartment blocks you see
outside French cities," he told Bild daily. "But we do have
areas where foreigners are increasingly disconnected from the mainstream.
We must improve integration, particularly of young people."

Berlin state interior minister Ehrhart Koerting said
the arsonists who burned cars were not part of any organised attack
and he doesn't fear the spread of any French-style violence.

"We assume that these were copycats who are taking
advantage of the situation in France to do the same thing here,"
Koerting told Reuters. "I think there are no reasons for the
situation among the immigrants to erupt here."

MONITORING FRENCH RIOTS

May Day riots hit Berlin every year on May 1 and luxury
cars in Kreuzberg, once a haven for squatters now being turned into
a high-rent district, are occasionally torched by leftist extremists.
But there is no ethnic element to the attacks.

"There is no way violence as intense as in France
would hit Germany or most other European countries," Nadeem Elyas,
chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, told Reuters.
Some 3.2 million Muslims live in Germany, making it the second largest
Muslim community in Europe after France.

"The dividing line in Germany is not between immigrants
and non-immigrants, it's more between the socially disadvantaged and
those who are not socially disadvantaged," he added. "And
you find a lot of immigrants in both of those groups in Germany."

In Rome, opposition leader Romano Prodi was accused
of inciting violence for saying Italian cities might soon suffer the
sort of rioting afflicting France. He said the government needed to
take urgent action to improve life in Italy's more deprived suburbs
if it wanted to stave off future trouble.

"We have the worst suburbs in Europe," Prodi
told reporters on Saturday. "I don't think things (here) are
so different from Paris. It's only a question of time."

In the Netherlands, where almost 20 percent of the population
is of foreign descent, the riots in France are also being closely
monitored.

"We really don't need to be afraid that the Netherlands
or Europe will be in flames within a few weeks," Han Entzinger,
professor of migration and integration studies at Erasmus University
in Rotterdam, told the Algemeen Dagblad daily.

"In France there is an explosive mixture,"
he added. "The apartment blocks in the suburbs were put up for
the newcomers. That is a big difference to here. Our immigrants ended
up in existing districts and houses of much better quality."

But Entzinger said the threat of violence could not
be ruled out: "I don't want to say that it would never happen
here. But perhaps then it would be on a much smaller scale."

In Belgium, the Arab European League that was accused
of being behind race riots that hit Antwerp in 2002, said there are
similar conditions for French-style violence in Belgium.

"One incident could set things on fire," Karim
Hassoun, chairman of the AEL Belgium division, wrote on their website.
"The consequences will be immeasurable."

(Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson in Amsterdam,
Andrew Gray in London, Bart Crols in Brussels, Crispian Balmer in
Rome and James Mackenzie in Berlin)